Clash of the programs Rocky Long built

Rocky Long likes to say it takes five years to build a program. His Aztecs are ahead of where his Lobos were in the early 2000s

SDSU safeties coach Danny Gonzales (left) and head coach Rocky Long (right) team up to question a call in the first half during SDSU's football game against Oregon State Saturday night at Qualcomm Stadium.
— Earnie Grafton

SDSU safeties coach Danny Gonzales (left) and head coach Rocky Long (right) team up to question a call in the first half during SDSU's football game against Oregon State Saturday night at Qualcomm Stadium.
— Earnie Grafton

With Lobo legend Rocky Long at the helm, the ties between the Aztecs and the New Mexico Lobos run deep.

Long quarterbacked the Lobos from 1969-71 and then returned for three separate coaching stints at New Mexico over a four-decade career.

In 10 years as New Mexico head coach from 1998-2008, Long won 65 games – good for the all-time lead among Lobos’ head coaches.

New Mexico remains near and dear to Long’s heart, and it’s at least as special to San Diego State safeties coach Danny Gonzales, an Albuquerque, N.M. native and one of three New Mexico graduates on the SDSU coaching staff. (The third is graduate assistant Zach Arnett, who played linebacker for Long at New Mexico from 2005-08).

However, they will temporarily bury that love for the alma mater when the Aztecs (3-4 overall, 2-1 Mountain West) and Lobos (2-5, 0-3) clash at Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday.

“There’s zero affiliation when we’re playing the game,” Gonzales said. “When we’re not playing, I root for them. I hope they win every single game because that’s where I’m from and it’s where I played.

“But (on Saturday) I hope we go out there and whup their tail.”

Even though last week’s defeat to Fresno State might ultimately cost the Aztecs a chance to play in the inaugural Mountain West championship game, program building continues at San Diego State, where Long – who engineered miracles at New Mexico – and his staff remain ahead of schedule.

Gonzales is intimately familiar with Long’s philosophy on how it takes five years to build a football program because he’s now been part of that process twice.

Gonzales was a walk-on safety and backup punter for the Lobos. He played for Long during his senior year in 1998 – Long’s first year at New Mexico – and then rose through the ranks to eventually become a full-time assistant coach on Long’s staff.

He’s never left.

The Aztecs’ safeties coach has spent his entire coaching career with Long, and he considers the salty old veteran his football father.

“He’s taught me everything I know about football,” Gonzales said. “He’s mentored me, he’s raised me in his football life. I love working for him.”

Gonzales has bought into the Rocky Long method of building a program and he can’t imagine working for anyone else.

“He instilled in the (New Mexico) program toughness, the same thing we do here. We’re going to outwork people and out-physical people, and that’s how we win football games,” Gonzales said.

The five-year growth curve was steeper at New Mexico than it’s been at SDSU.

“There wasn’t very much talent when (Long) got there, so it took three years of recruiting classes, redshirting recruiting classes, and playing very little true freshmen, and in that fourth and fifth year, we were a good football team,” Gonzales said.

Year No. 4 brought a 6-5 record. In Year 5, the Lobos went 7-7 and finished second in the Mountain West. They equaled that second place finish the next two years and went 8-5 and 7-5.

“We finished second three times, we never got over that hump,” Gonzales recalls.

Lay that blueprint over the one Long’s drawn out for SDSU, and it appears that the Aztecs are already ahead of schedule.

In terms of the overall culture, Long considers 2013 the fifth year of his program-building process because some of the groundwork was laid in 2011, when he first joined the Aztecs as defensive coordinator under Brady Hoke.

“Here, in Year 4 we were able to win the conference championship,” Gonzales said. “And we had a chance (vs. Fresno) on Saturday – if a couple of plays had gone differently, we would have had a chance to win a second one. I think the plan is in place.”

Still in terms of recruiting and bringing in the kids they want for their system, Long’s staff considers this Year 3 of the master plan.

“The positions of the guys we’re looking for, are not totally different (from Hoke) but a little bit different,” Long said, adding that he wants bigger players on defense.

“We want taller and longer because nowadays you can’t hit anybody so you’ve got to be able to reach and grab them,” Long said. “Taller, longer guys are more efficient. They tip more balls and cover more area.”

Regardless of whether it’s Year 3 or Year 5, Long’s Aztecs have already accomplished something that always evaded his Lobos – won a Mountain West championship.

Can they continue the forward progress against New Mexico this Saturday?